Purchase History is Sold?
Ironic isn’t it.
Purchase history is highly valuable data because it makes marketing and advertising highly effective and lucrative. Today, it seems normal to view ads of products that you actually might purchase or had plans on purchasing, but this was not always the case. In the past, advertisements were targeted based on the larger demographic consuming the content. You can still see forms of advertisement where this is still the case because the delivery medium is not dynamic. Ads seen in newspapers and billboards focus on the larger demographic in a city or area because they cannot individually target viewers at scale.
Today, the bulk of advertisements that we see are targeted individually, which means the ad that you see may not be the same ad that your next door neighbor might be seeing. However, there are also localized ads which would be the same ad that you and your neighbor experience, but your cousin in a different city or state may see a different ad during the same program. This concept has been around for awhile and proved to be effective for cable programming, however a next level of targeting exists. The transition from spending most of our free time in front of a tv to spending almost all of our time on a mobile phone has opened the door for better, more personalized advertisement efforts.
As we all have experienced at some point, we can discuss a product or a problem that we are having and as soon as we open our phones, the first ad we see is for a related product. This is coincedence at times, but there are some serious logistics that go into making advertisement this effective. One of the ways this is done is through the sale of your purchase history. Purchase history can tell you a lot about a person just by viewing which products you purchase, how frequently, and in what quantity. Once this data has been collected and run through special algorithms, advertising companies can predict and identify what products you may be likely to buy in the future. Businesses will pay top dollar for this level of advertisement as it almost guarantees that they will see a return for the cost of the ad. For instance, imagine you own a toothpaste company that has been dentist approved and recommended over top brands like Crest and Colgate. Even though your product may be of higher quality, the majority of people purchase the more known brands because it is familiar. However, since your brand is preferred by dentists, it would be awesome if you could advertise directly to people having dental issues. If advertising companies view purchase history data of people who have recently purchased products such as orajel tooth numbing solution or a water floss, you can assume these customers are concerned about dental health and may be willing to switch toothpastes. Running an ad to these specific people will prove to be more effective than an ad campaign that does not specifically target people in the market for dental products.
Is This Bad?
Depends on how you look at it. On one hand it can be viewed as helpful to businesses and consumers because it ensures advertisements are a bit more useful. On the other hand, it can be viewed as a massive invasion of privacy in some cases. For instance, if you are in the market for an engagement ring and all of a sudden just about every ad you view is related to engagement rings, it could lead to a spoiled surprise for a significant other who spends a lot of time using your home WiFi. In my honest opinion, I think it is generally okay as I personally have probably benefitted more from Ad personalization than not. I do not typically spend much time seeking out new products or shopping so this is the perf
Can I Opt Out?
Yes and No. Sorta. There is usually an option somewhere in online marketplaces that allows you to opt out of your data being used for advertisement purposes. To be honest this appears on almost any product these days, even on smart TVs. You can opt out, however just be aware that this could still be going on without your knowledge. Software has unintentional and intentional flaws that can muddy the waters and there is no gurantee that your data will never be sold just because you choose to opt out. This is the new reality of the world that we live in and while regulation exists to allow us to have a choice on what happens with our data, once we provide the data we cannot truly control what happens to it.
Information is our only protection because we can only control what data we choose to provide.